1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an assist grip for a vehicle provided in a door opening of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been disclosed an assist grip structure which includes an assist grip in a vertical direction along a door opening provided in a side of a car. According to this structure, the assist grip is divided into upper and lower portions, and the upper portion is formed larger in diameter while the lower portion is formed smaller in diameter (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-114072). Further, there has been disclosed a seat grip provided on an upper part of a backrest of a vehicle seat, and this seat grip includes a hand inserting grip adapted for inserting user's fingers thereinto, and a spherical grip formed of a member more flexible than that of the hand inserting grip (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-296725).
According to the vertical assist grip as disclosed in the above-mentioned document (JP2002-114072), when a user's grip is weak or the friction of the hand is small, the assist grip becomes slippery and hard to grasp, leading to inferior usability.
On the other hand, according to the seat grip disclosed in the above-mentioned document (JP2008-296725), when a passenger gets through a passage inside a vehicle, the passenger can hold the spherical grip, or put a hand on the spherical grip, so that his/her body can be supported. The grip, however, is unsuitable for the passenger to get in and out of the vehicle through the door opening.
Moreover, since the installation heights of the grips proposed in both the documents stay fixed, both of these grips have a problem that the grips are hard to use for a short child and an adult taller than average.